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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581843">BtG: Elain</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merciless_Mustangs/pseuds/Merciless_Mustangs'>Merciless_Mustangs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Before the Gang [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Nonbinary Character, Past Character Death, Past Rape/Non-con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:17:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,989</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581843</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merciless_Mustangs/pseuds/Merciless_Mustangs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Elain is a lost woman trying to make her way through the wild western world, will she make it through ok? <br/>(Based off of Red Dead Redemption 2's map)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Before the Gang [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016143</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. New Beginnings?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Agony. Every touch was agony. Every burn, every scratch, every cut. Those piercing blue eyes looked at me as if he were an angel here to help, but instead it was just a disguise.<br/>
“Why don’t you smile dear? Aren’t you happy?” He purred, his smile spewing poison. He looked at me and pressed his nails into my arm the moment he noticed my anger. Right, I’m only a toy to him. To this devil, I’m nothing more than a pretty little doll he can drag around.<br/>
“I wouldn’t look so sour, you want to keep your lover boy… don’t you?~” he growled into my ear. I snarled under my breath but faked a smile for him, causing him to smile as well.<br/>
We rode through the streets of Saint Denis looking like a married couple. People passed us and gave looks to me, but he didn’t seem to mind. I’m just a doll, why would he mind showing it off? He stopped the exhausted looking horse and practically yanked me off.<br/>
“Come on, we need to see someone” He smiled as we walked through the crowded streets. He noticed me looking around each twist and turn and growled quietly. “Don’t even think it deary, they won’t be very happy if I came empty handed.” He hissed and gripped my wrist in an airtight vice.<br/>
The outfit he dressed me in was beginning to become uncomfortable as the wind picked up. I had to use all the power I could to keep my pathetic excuse of a skirt down so the pedestrians wouldn’t see anything underneath.<br/>
Finally we stopped in front of a nice looking house and he knocked a pattern, 3, 2, 3, 1. The knock finished and someone was there immediately on the other side to open the door and pull us inside.<br/>
The person in front of me and “master” walked us into the house and to the living room. The two sat down and before I was about to sit down with them, I was yelled at to keep standing.<br/>
“How much did you want again?” One of the men said, “master” said a price but all their words became a blur as the sound of gunfire drowned out their voices. They didn’t seem to mind too much though, which made me even more on edge. I wanted to say something but the second I opened my mouth to speak, everyone gave me a dirty look. So, I closed it and looked down at my feet.<br/>
A skirt that goes just below my ass, red high heels, and a corset certainly isn’t the most comfortable outfit. I must say though, one of the people seems to be VERY occupied staring at the skirt. I cleared my throat which seemed to stop them, thankfully.<br/>
A scream in the other room popped up the heads of everyone in the room. Two of the people raced out leaving me, “master”, and one other person sitting on the other end. I looked out the door and saw five people walk in, guns out and one squeeze away from a newly painted red wall.<br/>
“Come here” one of the gunslingers demanded, looking at me. I decided not to tempt fate and went over to them, which made “master” yell. The yell, though, was cut short by a bullet digging into his forehead.<br/>
“Does anyone else want to cause a scene or do you want to be the good and quiet fuckers I know you can be?” The leader of the five said, looking at the buyers. They all nodded silently, which got the gunslingers to move out. I followed along which was definitely an awkward moment, seeing as how they looked to me once they all were on the horse before motioning to get on.<br/>
“Got a name?” The one with the blue bandana asked as he got his horse ready.<br/>
“Elain” my voice was hoarse from the lack of talking for so long but they didn’t seem to notice. Blue bandana nodded and they started to all race off.<br/>
Once they got to their camp, they hopped off and blue helped me down. Red bandana gave me some blue jeans, an old grey shirt, and some black boots to put on. “Get dressed in the tent over there then go see the one in the blue and white dress over there… she’ll help you out” he hummed and walked away. I took a deep breath and walked to the tent red pointed out, then got dressed. The sight of the stains and rips in the skirt almost made me vomit but I ignored it and walked to the lady in the dress who was sitting by the fire making something in a bottle.<br/>
She looked at me and smiled a kind grin. “Hello, you’re the new one… right?” I nodded and cleared my throat to talk but she injected instead. “Here, drink this” she put the brown bottle down and handed over a can of some sort of alcohol. I thanked her and downed about half. “My name is Angelina but Angie is just fine. I understand that this is a lot to process but I promise you that this will be a better life. I saw you once or twice with that man, but he won’t be a problem for yo-“. She stopped when a young looking male walked up to her and smiled innocently. She looked at him, sighed, and gave him the brown bottle.<br/>
“If you even THINK of setting another house on fire, Mich. I will not think twice on making you go on your next mission with Viper.” She threatened which seemed to go over well enough since the boy whined but left soon after.<br/>
She turned back to me and smiled “boys will be boys. Oh, and do not worry about these good people. They all have their fair share of blood but none would think of laying a hand on you, my dear”<br/>
Her voice rolling off of her tongue sounded so foreign yet loving. “Oh” she looked over at me from the fire. “Oh don’t worry, you’ll get more feminine clothing” she hummed and held my hand gently. Usually being held was an uncomfortable feeling, but her hold was like a mother’s.<br/>
One of the members ran up, scared. Angelina looked up to him “what’s wrong, love?” Her expression was confused and worried, while the other was panicked and on edge. “Someone took Charlie! Angie, they just took him!” They practically yelled.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Blanket of Angels</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I realized when uploading this that this is a small chapter, I apologize.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Angelina stood up and walked the other away. I sat there nervously, what do they mean?? Who’s Charlie? I didn’t notice I was zoned out into the fire until Angelina came back and her hand was placed on my shoulder gently. I jumped and looked up at her, the whole area seemed to change. The camp was lit up with the fire as a dark purple blanketed the sky. <br/>“Are you ok, my dear? You’ve been sitting here like this for at least a couple hours.” She sat next to me and handed me a bowl of some sort of stew. I thanked her quietly and started to eat. A small smile grew on her face, “you remind me of my child.” I looked up with a confused look “I didn’t see any kids here, where are they?” It wasn’t until a second after I said that did I notice the smile fade in replacement with a slight frown. “I… she isn’t here anymore” she wrapped up a cooked piece of venison and placed it inside of a bag. <br/>My heart sunk and I reached out to grab her arm. Right before I was about to, she moved it to grab another raw venison. “I normally don’t talk about her… she died when she was only two from some “unknown cause”” she got the meat ready to cook as she spoke. “No matter what I tried to say to a sheriff, they wouldn’t listen to me.” She went quiet for a few seconds, beginning to cook the venison. “One says “oh well”, one says “something like murder can’t be caused by someone like him”, one says “a sickness is a better excuse”… one even accused me of killing my own child instead” she began, “who would accuse a mother of killing her own baby? What on earth would I gain from something like that??” She sounded defensive when saying what happened. She looked over at my worried expression and sighed with a fake smile. <br/>“I bet you don’t want to hear about some old, crazy lady’s problems. You look tired, my dear Elain… you should rest. Come, I’ll bring you to your tent.” <br/>She set the meat down on a cloth wrap and stood up. A hand was extended to me to take, which I did, and she walked me to a lovely little tent. It was out of the way from the others with room for my belongings once I got something to call mine. <br/>“In the morning you and Wick will go into town to give yourself a horse” she began to walk away, then stopped and turned around to look at me again. “You… you do know how to ride, don’t you?” I laughed nervously and nodded, lying to her “of course, it’s easy.” She smiled and sighed “Wick will teach you, it’s no harder than using a gun.” Then, before I could tell her I don’t know how to use a gun either, she turned around and walked away. I sighed and laid down on the soft pronghorn hide, then pulled the blanket over myself as the calmness of sleep took over my vision.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. One Drop of Blood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His screaming shook the whole house. The nasty bullet wound carved into his forehead dripping blood, but he was unfazed by it. He grabbed my neck and growled in my face “who the fuck do you think you belong to?? You’re MY whore! Every little fucking inch of you body belongs to me! WAKE THE FUCK UP!” A stinging pain struck my cheeks soon after. “WAKE UP, ELAIN.”<br/>I shot up with hot tears streaming down my face, then looked to my right to see someone with fluffy salt and pepper hair and a white eye on their left, a dark green on their right. “Elain, are you alright? I’ve been calling your name to try and wake you” their voice sounded worried as they stood up. I nodded nervously and got up as well, wiping my tears away. They seemed to look through my lie and they sighed, “you don’t need to fib… I know what happened to you, everyone does here. If we are going to be partners today, you cannot hide something that’s wrong.” <br/>I smiled softly “I’m alright, I promise.” Wick nodded, though they knew it was another lie, then walked me over to the horses. “Come, get onto Rak. We are going out near Braithwaite Manor to take a horse… do you know where that is?” Wick helped me onto the large, Silver Turkoman and then sat on her after. “Yes, not well but enough.” I held onto the back of the saddle tightly before noticing that Wick was trying to get me to hold onto their vest. <br/>The ride there was long and quiet besides Wick’s talking to Rak which was the only thing that didn’t make it awkward. They seemed very connected to their horse, which was a nice scene after only seeing hatred towards the intelligent creatures. <br/>We slowed to a stop in front of the stalls. Wick looked to me and tilted their head towards the horses. I carefully slid off of Rak and snuck inside the mini stable. There were so many beautiful horses, it is nearly impossible to choose but eventually a beautiful Buttermilk Buckskin Kentucky Saddler came into my view. I quickly ran over to the horse, jumped on… and sat there. I started to panic, not knowing how to ride a horse. “G-Go on!” I whispered to the horse and rocked forward, but the horse didn’t seem to want to move. I whimpered and looked to Wick, who was trying to motion something to me. I realized and got the hang of it quickly, getting the horse to run. Together we quickly sped off away from the huge manor. Once we were a safe distance away, Wick began to teach me how to properly ride a horse on our way home. <br/>Time passed quickly after that, riding was tranquil, it all was. I smiled and held onto the horse, petting their mane gently. <br/>“Do you have a name?” The voice scared me out of my trance and I looked over to Wick, who was looking to me expectantly. “I-... not yet” I chuckled nervously, “I’ve never had a horse before, I wouldn’t know what to go with.” They smiled “your heart, you go with your heart.” I nodded and hummed, going back into my small trance. <br/>	Wick whistled quietly and grabbed my shirt, quickly stopping me and my horse. I looked to Wick, confused “Wha-” Wick put their hand over my mouth and pointed ahead of us then went behind a tree, leaving their horse behind. I followed after swiftly, hiding behind the tree next to them. Ahead of us, there were five men talking and saying something about Charlie that I couldn’t make out.  <br/>“Buck’s men, must’ve heard we’re here” Wick must’ve read my mind and whispered to me. I nodded as Wick took out a pistol, they tossed one to me and gestured to the five. I panicked and tried to say I don’t know how to shoot but Wick already was out shooting. Taking a deep breath, I showed my head and tried to do the same hand movements as Wick. One down, two, three, four, they dropped like flies. Each wasn’t shot to kill, just dropped to the ground, gripping onto their own pistols as they fired at us. Wick shot their hands, causing them to yell in pain, some passing out in the immense pain. <br/>“Where is Charlie. I will only ask once or else, dreh ni gor zey.” Wick pressed the barrel of the gun to one’s head, growling softly. The other looked to Wick with a weak smile and hissed “Go fuck yourself.”<br/>Wick growled and was about to pull the trigger, but kicked them and got onto Rak, “Angie will hear about this. I will see you on your knees and begging for mercy when we get him back, I will not be so merciful and neither will she.” Wick looked at me and I stiffened “U-uh… yea…!” Wick sighed, “Come on.” I laughed nervously and hopped onto the horse, then we ran off back to the camp. <br/>“You two shouldn’t have done that” Angie sighed as she patched up Wick’s wounds. Angie looked at me and I bowed my head down. “It is my fault, ma’am” Wick piped up, “They were talking about Charlie and I thought that I could get information about where he is.” Angie tightened the bandage “I understand that you want to help, Wick, and I thank you. I am simply worried about your health. One wrong move and both you and Elain could’ve been killed or worse.” <br/>	Wick went quiet, clearly frustrated about not being able to get their point across. I looked to Wick, then Angie “I-I know I’m not in the right to say anything, but they are right, Angie. They all seemed off guard and we had the jump, it was a clean take out and no one died even if Wick had the opportunity to. It was risky but it could’ve helped greatly.” Wick looked at me, surprised. Angelina nodded, then finished the last patch. “As long as you both are ok” Angie stood up, “get some rest, you both need it. I will get your horse ready for the night, Elain.” With that, Angie left the two alone.<br/>“You didn’t need to say that, but thank you” Wick shook my hand. “You know, when Angie told me about your troubles, I wasn’t sure if our speed was going to be safe for you. I’m glad it is” they stood up with a soft groan, which made me jump up and help them to their bed despite them repeatedly saying they can handle it. <br/>	I walked to my own tent and laid down, feeling my body sink into the furs. I sighed and closed my eyes as the world slowed to a stop, falling asleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Translation: Dreh ni gor zey- Do not test me</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Panic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Merry Christmas, have a chapter</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A yell erupted through the camp, forcing me to spring awake. I watched as Angie nervously walked over to the man clearly in distress, trying to calm him. Panicked, the man backed away from Angie, clearly not in the right state of mind. I quickly made my way to Wick’s tent, only to realize they weren’t there. I watched as one of the members of the gang ran up to me and ran me away from the chaos. “What the hell did you two do yesterday?! You brought a rogue gang member into OUR camp! That’s one of Buck’s men, you dumbass!” I stood there dumbfounded, trying to figure out what is going on. <br/>	Mich ran over and yanked the pissed gang member away, “Viper it’s obvious she didn’t know! You should be helping Angelina instead of berating the newbie!” Viper growled and looked to me, “Then why did a member of Buck’s suddenly appear when she arrived? How come one of our best shotgun members disappeared the SAME DAY she moseyed her way in here??” Mich tried to pull the pissed-off gang member away “Viper you’re looking too much into this-” “VIPER! GET OVER HERE!” Angelina’s voice shrieked through the entire camp, Viper growled lowly and went to Angelina. “I’m sorry,” Mich began, “Viper’s just stressed, he’s the lead for finding Charlie. He’s not like this, promise.” I nodded and followed Mich as he walked to Angelina, who was talking to Viper and the same man with the blue bandana. “Tarak, you’re taking over Viper’s job and searching for any signs of either Charlie, Buck, or Buck’s men. If you see them, try to get information but please do not kill them.” The one with the blue bandana, now known as Tarak, nodded and continued to listen to her instructions. Angie looked to Viper and took a deep breath “Viper, my dear,” she grabbed his hand, “Do not hurt him. We need information from the man but do not hurt him.” <br/>	Angie gestured for Viper and Tarak to follow as she walked them away to a small hut, next to Angelina’s home. I took the opportunity to get onto my horse and ran off, following the horse tracks that led into the wilderness. The ride filled my head more and more with worrisome thoughts until an hour when I heard a voice in the Heartlands. My heart jumped and I called out Wick’s name, riding there at full speed. I stopped quickly, though, next to Wick and looked to the two in front of them. A man put a foot onto Wick’s torso and looked at me, smugness and curiosity spewing from every seam, “And who are you, sweetheart?” I quickly looked between the two, Wick growling softly the second he spoke. “No one you need to know, I-I need you to get off of my friend before… uh… before I make you regret it…!” I hopped off my horse, Wick facepalming and grumbling something under their breath. Buck broke out laughing, pushing his foot more into them. “Ofaal hin pahrk vau do zey us Zu'u kren hi med twig, hi kodaav nisaad!” Wick hit his foot harshly, causing him to dig his boot farther. “You’re lucky I don’t let my friend tear ya to pieces.” I looked to the man’s friend to see amusement in their eyes, I laughed nervously. “Get off of my friend. This is your last warning, kid!” I puffed my chest, trying to look scary. “What’s a little girl like you going to do?” I growled, rage building in me and I looked to Wick to read ‘Don’t!’ clear on their face. Balling my hands into fists, I let out a scream and hit him as hard as I could in the chest. This threw the man off just enough for Wick to crawl out and get to their feet. Wick knew the look on the man’s face all too well, they grabbed me, threw me on my horse, jumped onto their own, then whistled and ran. My horse ran as I was panicked, spewing question after question. “Stop asking and run! Dreh ni straag wah bo mush!” I took the hint and followed after as they ran towards camp. “They’ll track u-” “Shut up, Elain!” Panic was clear through them but they rode back to base. Eventually, they got there and Wick got off their horse, “I’ll explain everything in a moment… get Angelina. Now.” They walked to their tent as I rushed to where I last saw Angelina, only to see Viper yelling at Mich, who was trying to calm him down. <br/>	“Where’s Angie? It’s urgent” she looked to Viper. “In her house, sleeping. Don’t wake her-” “Ok thanks bye!” Elain quickly interrupted Viper and sprinted inside and to Angelina, she shook her and held her arm. “Elain my love, what’s wrong? You look seconds from tears!” Angelina stood up, Elain told her everything that happened as she walked her to Wick’s tent. Angie walked to Wick and sat next to them, “Wick, dear… tell me exactly what happened.” Wick looked to Elain and gestured for her to leave, she shook her head and sat on the ground before they could protest. <br/>	“I went out for a fresh breath before sunrise, Rak began to become worried as a cultist-type person with a wolf mask circled us. They stopped us soon before turning to the right, then I got pulled off my horse by Buck, my back to the ground. Buck then turns my face and kicks me into the gut as I begin to get up.” They look at me, seemingly ashamed. “He threatens me and shows his silver spurs-” before they could continue, Angelina growls in anger. “I swear, if he hurts you, he will turn to putty.” I cleared my throat and Wick continued, “He says to stop looking for our “brat”. Then, Elain came in.” They looked at me and I waved nervously. “Elain… the man you met today is a dangerous man. If you ever see him, run. Never, never ever approach that sick, twisted man.” Angelina held my hand, “You are such a brave woman, that is Buck.” I looked between the two, confused. “That banaak is the person that killed Lily, her daughter.” “O-Oh… oh dear” I looked at Angie, “Don’t worry Angelina, I won’t go near him.” She nodded and left, I was about to ask Wick more but decided against it, letting the quiet settle. <br/>	“What?” Wick looked at me as the gang ate their meal, I cleared my throat. “What made you so worried when you looked at Buck?” Almost the entire gang went dead silent, hearing the rival gang leader’s name. They looked to me and gestured towards their tent, which we walked to together as chatter began to boil back. “He was shifting. I didn’t want something that could’ve been avoided to happen, but you weren't moving.” I nodded, “He did seem off… I just didn’t know that.” “Well,” Wick got up and walked me out of their tent, “Now you do, don’t go to him without me there. He’s not afraid to use someone who looks like you to his sick advantage, he’s doing the same to Charlie.” They went back to their tent and laid down, holding their chest where the spur’s scar is.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Translation:<br/>Ofaal hin pahrk vau do zey us Zu'u kren hi med twig, hi kodaav nisaad!: Get your foot off of me before I break you like a twig, you bear fake!<br/>Dreh ni straag wah bo mush: Do not turn to fly mush<br/>Banaak: Scum</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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